November 20th, 2013, is not just a birthday for the International Space Station. The day marks 15 years of the ISS program, which also serves as a halfway point for the projected 30-year program. The International Space Station looks forward to many more years of innovations in future technologies and medical research.

“We are looking at another 15 years of operation potentially out to the end of the 2020s,  2028,” Boeing’s director of ISS Utilization and Exploration, Mike Raftery, explained. “This is going to be a really exciting time moving forward.”

The Boeing Company is the prime contractor to NASA for the ISS, and has designed and built all major U.S. elements on the station in this 15-year partnership.  Boeing is also responsible for successfully integrating new hardware and software on the ISS, as well as for providing sustaining engineering work on the research outpost.

The ISS program 15-year anniversary is a reminder of the big plans for the future of the station. The International Space Station expects to see deeper space travel in the next several years. Furthering the sciences through medical research in the laboratory operated by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space is also in the works. For a look back at the International Space Station, click on this link to NASA.